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Popular Science iPad Demo Impresses

This is very nice. Popular Science +, a new magazine concept put together for the iPad.

Work on Popular Science+ began months ago in a collaboration between Bonnier’s global R&D task force and BERG, a London-based design firm. The resulting platform, called Mag+, is the first step toward the partner’s joint vision of what digital magazine reading can be.

The designers say:

“Our design vision has been to avoid what our friends at BERG call “a wrist screen running clock software” – we wanted to build the watch. It should feel like you are touching the actual magazine, using your natural body language – not looking through the screen and layers of buttons.

“Magazines are a luxury that readers can lose themselves in. We have built a digital magazine for a device you can curl up with on the coach. It allows readers to lean back, away from the browser, and just focus on the bold images and rich storytelling. We wanted to build a linear story with a beginning and end. Because we believe that reduced
complexity increases your immersion. And that the sense of completion is important.”

The Mag+ platform will be continually developed and upgraded over the coming months as more and more of Bonnier’s nearly 50 U.S. magazines (and many more in Europe) are rolled out on the iPad and other tablets.

“Mag+ allows magazines to do what they do best, but on another platform,” says Sara Ohrvall, senior vice president of research and development for Bonnier. “We don’t want readers to feel like they’re working through the screen, or layers of buttons. It should feel like they’re touching the actual product, using a natural and intuitive interface.”

In a future release of the app, users will be able to activate a Heated mode that will let them select text to email, Tweet, post to Facebook or save in a scrapbook. Subscriptions will also be coming to Popular Science+ and other magazines on the Mag+ platform in the next two months.